LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Four European actors and the
maverick Coen brothers shared top honors at the Oscars,
relegating the traditional Hollywood of big stars and box
office hits to a supporting role this year.

Violent drama "No Country For Old Men" was the big winner
on Sunday night with four Academy Awards, more than any other
film, including best movie, director and adapted screenplay for
brothers Joel and Ethan Coen.

The film's fourth award, for best supporting actor, went to
Spain's Javier Bardem for playing a creepy killer of few words.
It was the first Oscar for a Spanish performer in the 80-year
history of the world's premier cinema awards.

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As expected, Briton Daniel Day-Lewis won best actor in
"There Will Be Blood," in which he stars as a ruthless oil
prospector in early 20th century America.

But there were surprises in the actress categories.

Scotland's Tilda Swinton was named best supporting actress
in "Michael Clayton" ahead of pre-award favorite Cate
Blanchett, while French star Marion Cotillard beat Julie
Christie as best actress with her acclaimed performance as
troubled chanteuse Edith Piaf in "La Vie En Rose."

Cotillard was the first French woman to win the award since
Simone Signoret in 1960.

"Hollywood is built on Europeans," said Swinton. "Go back
and look. I'm just really sad I couldn't give my speech in
Gaelic. Don't tell everybody. We're everywhere."

The prizes marked the first time since 1964 that all four
top acting awards went to artists outside the United States,
where the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is based.

The overseas influence reflects the growing importance of
box office receipts from abroad to a film's success, but an
Oscar ceremony filled with foreign-born stars and few box
office hits made for low U.S. television viewership.

The program was the least-watched Academy Awards ever with
only 32 million viewers compared to the record 1998 telecast
when 55 million people tuned in to see "Titanic," with Leonardo
DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, claim the best film award.

"OUR CORNER OF THE SANDBOX"

But in the end, it was the Coen brothers, born and raised
in Minnesota, who proved to be the big winners.

Their movie, based on Cormac McCarthy's novel about a drug
deal gone wrong in south Texas, explores the theme of moral
decline and was among four somber films up for best picture.

The Coens, who won an Oscar for writing the idiosyncratic
1996 crime caper "Fargo," have long worked outside the
traditional Hollywood studio system.

"No Country" was the most commercially successful of their
12 feature films, although it posted relatively modest sales of
$64 million at North American box offices.

Accepting his Oscar, Joel Coen talked about how he and
Ethan had made films since they were kids and said his brother
had taken a camera to the airport as a boy in the 1960s to make
an amateur film called "Henry Kissinger, Man on the Go."

"We're very thankful to all of you out there for letting us
continue to play in our corner of the sandbox," Joel Coen said
on receiving the best director Oscar.

Backstage, the brothers were straight-faced as
photographers yelled at them to smile at the cameras. Only when
someone shouted "Don't smile, then!" did they break into grins.

Austrian Holocaust-era drama "The Counterfeiters" won the
Oscar for best foreign language film. Directed by Stefan
Ruzowitzky, it was the first win for Austria in the category.

In other key categories, best animated film went to box
office hit "Ratatouille" about a friendly rat who becomes a
chef in a Parisian kitchen.

Stripper-turned-writer Diablo Cody won the best original
screenplay award for the hopeful teen pregnancy comedy "Juno,"
the only best picture nominee to surpass $100 million at the
North American box office.

Despite talk of dark and pessimistic movies at this year's
Oscars, many winners offered statements of optimism.

Perhaps the most inspiring came from Marketa Irglova who,
along with Glen Hansard, won for best original song with the
tune "Falling Slowly" from the low-budget movie "Once." Until
the film won over audiences, Irglova and Hansard were unknown.

"This is just a proof that no matter how far out your
dreams are, it's possible," said Irglova. "This song was
written from a perspective of hope and hope connects us all."